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1-Page Summary of Relativity
Overall Summary
Theory of Relativity is a novel about Dylan, who experiences homelessness after his mother kicks him out. He goes to the library and discovers Einstein’s writings which inspire him to question everything and embrace life as it comes. The book is a coming-of-age story that tells us how we can benefit from questioning our worldviews during times of instability.
Dylan has been without a father for most of his life. His mother, who is still mourning the loss of her husband, throws him out onto the streets to make her boyfriend happy. Dylan learns how to survive on the street by avoiding dangerous people and finding other kids who are homeless like himself. He meets Jenna while she’s panhandling near a church; she works for someone named Vulture who takes advantage of teens in need. Dylan also befriends Glen, an office worker at one of those offices, but he doesn’t have much money so he can only buy food for Dylan once in awhile.
Dylan finds a book at the library about Albert Einstein. He decides to visit his brothers and old school before returning home. On his way back, he is attacked by Vulture’s henchmen who force him out of his office building. His mental state worsens as he wanders the city with Jenna until Glen saves him from police officers. The next morning, Dylan goes to breakfast with Glen where they discuss their plans for the future.
Dylan decides to go back home and see if anything has changed. He sees his mother’s boyfriend, Dan, and feels the pain of being forgotten. His mother gives him a letter from his grandfather before he lost touch with the family. Dylan goes to his favorite hiding spot where he used to hide from his mom. He uses a computer there to search for Grandpa’s location. When he finds it on a map, Dylan buys himself a plane ticket and heads home
Dylan travels to a small town hoping that he will find his grandfather and never have to return. When he arrives, he is sad to learn that his grandfather is in an elderly home dying of terminal lung cancer. He can’t bear seeing him like this so he goes back to the house where his father lives. There, Dylan meets his father for the first time since they separated years earlier when Dylan’s mother died. The house is falling apart and filled with garbage, but it doesn’t matter because Dylan’s father has no love for him and beats him severely after finding out who he really is. Battered and hopeless, Dylan returns to the city where Jenna works as a prostitute now since she last saw her boyfriend beaten by Vulture’s crew members weeks ago. They beat up on him again in order to make sure that their message gets across: if you don’t work for us then you can’t come back here ever again! After getting beaten up pretty bad, one of them steals all of Dylan’s backpack full of stuff except some prescription pills which help numb the pain from this beating along with other pains from before being abandoned when Jenna was pregnant with their child together at age fifteen without any support or even knowing what happened afterward until now twelve years later…
Dylan has been on drugs for so long that he becomes dependent on them. He needs to find a way to get more, but the only person who can help him is Vulture. Dylan doesn’t know what’s worse: being hunted by Vulture or not having his pills and being unable to function normally without them. In the end of the novel, Dylan returns to the library again (he’s been there before) and sees Einstein as if he was alive again. Einstein tells him that everything will be okay and comforts him while they’re in the bathroom together. With this advice from his imaginary friend, Dylan leaves the library and finds a payphone outside where he calls for help because it seems like all hope is lost at this point in time when you have no one else around you except your own imagination telling you things are going to turn out okay eventually despite how bad things seem right now.
